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As Fast As She Can
Recap Picking up from the previous episode, Ted turns to see Stella behind him at a crosswalk. She is quickly joined by her fiance (and father of her daughter), Tony. Ted says that it's a great surprise to see them, and later at MacLaren's, Barney and Marshall praise his cool. Later that evening, Tony shows up at The apartment, professing pity for Ted's condition, despite Ted denying any depression on his part. He explains that his family is rich, and he wants to make it up to Ted. First he offers him a professor position at Columbia, which Ted turns down, as it is a last resort in the field of architecture. Then, Tony brings Ted to a rich friend's house for dinner to offer Ted a job designing a new home. When the host starts insisting that his "laundry" room be soundproof, lined with stain-proof ceramic tiles, and filled with hanging chains, Ted quickly realizes the man is proposing the design of a "murder room." Eventually, Ted rejects Tony's help, claiming he's glad to be rid of Stella, who left him at the altar. The comment makes Tony reconsider his commitment to Stella, and he breaks off the engagement. Stella shows up at The apartment distraught, begging him to help her get Tony back. Ted refuses, claiming Stella hurt him and his ability to love. Meanwhile, Barney complains about a speeding ticket he receives. Marshall brags about how he evaded a ticket back in Minnesota by enticing the officer with the offer of bratwurst at a BBQ. Barney takes this as a challenge, and vows to talk his way out of a ticket, and speeds every time he is driving. After a few failures, he continues complaining, and Robin tells the story of how she cried her way out of a ticket. Finally, he encounters an attractive police officer. In the retelling of the story, Barney claims he promptly seduced the police woman, but he was actually arrested for numerous moving violations. Barney calls Ted (who is in the middle of his argument with Stella) from jail in Brazzaville, NJ, desperate to be bailed out (even though he is only in the cell with two teenage vandals). Stella offers to drive Ted to New Jersey, and the two bail Barney out and drive him back to the city. Before he exits the car, Ted admits that he is tired of searching for love, and hopes to find what she and Tony have. Stella tells Ted a story of how she once talked her way out of a speeding ticket. The cop pulled her over and walked up to her car and said "Young lady, I have been waiting for you all day." Stella looked up at him and said "I'm sorry, officer, I got here as fast as I could." When Ted asks if that really happened, she says no, it's just an old joke. Then she says that "the one" for Ted is coming "as fast as she can". Ted agrees to talk to Tony, and the couple get back together. Future Ted then talks about how Stella established a new, successful dermatological practice on the West Coast, and Tony became a successful screenwriter, with a hit in May 2010 called "The Wedding Bride." Finally, at the bar, Lily returns, admitting the offensive joke Barney told her four weeks ago was actually funny, but once he starts explaining a scheme involving amnesia patients, she promptly leaves again. Continuity *When Barney calls Ted to bail him out of jail, his ringtone is "Let's Go To The Mall" by Robin Sparkles. *While Robin has never received a moving violation, she has received several other tickets, as Marshall notes that "she's not great at parking legally" after he searches Robin's record in Slap Bet. *In , Future Ted mentions that the gang would not see Lily for four weeks after Barney told her the dirtiest joke ever. Lily returns here, indeed four weeks later. *Barney's panicked response to being arrested differs from his refusal to change his story when interrogated in . *There is little explanation for Barney’s sudden recklessness with driving, on top of him being licensed, as we see him terrified of going above 5mph in . Future References (Contains Spoilers) *This is the first time Ted is offered a job teaching at Columbia University; he eventually decides to take it in . *Tony's movie The Wedding Bride is released in , which indeed occurs in May 2010 as Future Ted mentions, and its poster, shown here, foreshadows it being about Ted and Stella's failed engagement seen in . *It was releaved in Sunrise (also hinted earlier in The Locket) that Ted flew all the way to California a few days before Robin and Barney's wedding to check if Robin's locket was at Stella's. Gallery Memorable Quotes Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors *When the female officer is approaching Barney's car she is seen wearing a tie, but when she gets to his window she has no tie on. *Right after the female officer draws her gun, she can briefly be seen laughing. *Barney claims to be driving in New Jersey at the times of these tickets, however, the highway is known as the Clearview Expressway located in Queens, NY. *In " ", Barney says that he never learned how to drive a car, and after a lesson with Ted, he vowed never to drive a vehicle again. However, he may have gotten over his fear and learned to drive. *When Ted and Tony are talking about the man's suspicious behavior, Tony's wine glass refills a little bit. *When Ted walked out of the apartment to talk to Stella, he didn't bring anything with. They decided to leave unexpectedly after receiving a call from Barney to bail him out of jail. After this ordeal was over Ted returned to the apartment with his yellow umbrella. **It is possible that he went inside the house to pick up the umbrella and then leave. Allusions and Outside References Music *Careful - Other Notes *Lily returns in this episode after being absent for two consecutive episodes. This episode was shot after Alyson Hannigan had given birth to a child and, along with the previous three episodes, had been shot out of order so that Hannigan could take maternity leave and be present for the season finale . *The first ticket Barney receives is while he's driving south at Exit 6A (35th St) on the I-295 Clearview Expressway, near Marie Curie Park. *Cobie Smulders is also visibly pregnant in this episode. *It can be estimated that the events of Season 4 take place over the course of about seven months, based on Stella prefacing her spiel to Ted by saying "this is about seven months too late..." and she proceeds to offer an explanation for why she left Ted at the altar, which happened in Shelter Island' '''at the beginning of the season. Guests *Sarah Chalke - Stella Zinman * - Tony Grafanello * - Mrs. Matsen *Amir Talai - Richard Greenleaf *Peter Breitmayer - Minnesota State Trooper Jorgensen *Nicolai Dorian - Skateboarder *Azita Ghanizada - Sexy Female Cop *Ezra Buzzington - Highway Cop #1 *Ron Roggé - Highway Cop #2 *Joe Thornton Jr. - Highway Cop #3 * Sarah Chalke - Claudette the fantasy French girl that was basically Stella except she has enormous cans. Reception * Donna Bowman of gave the episode an A- rating. She felt that "This was a funny, sweet episode with a couple of all-time classic moments. The half-grade reduction is only because the A and B stories weren't as well integrated as in the very best HIMYMs. A meaningful Barney-Robin moment would have gotten extra credit, as would a complicated flash-back-flash-forward sequence, but maybe we're saving up for the finale." http://www.avclub.com/articles/as-fast-as-she-can,27873/ * Michelle Zoromski of gave the episode 7.6 out of 10. http://tv.ign.com/articles/982/982141p1.html * Cindy McLennan of gave the episode an A- rating. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/as-fast-as-she-can-1.php?page=8 * The ''St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 9.5 out of 10 stars. "...'a check so big...' that the Statue of Liberty needs a husband." References External Links * * * Category:Episodes Category:Season 4